A Deal with the Elf King (Married to Magic, #1)(86)

He chuckles and his tired eyes sweep from the stone to mine. “Certainly, right after you somehow manage to break the cycle of queens by creating naturally occurring seasons in this unnatural world. And then fundamentally change your magic to become something that can manipulate the Fade.”

I purse my lips, not wanting my gut to get the better of my brain. Eldas stands before me, his eyes fading to their natural shade of blue as the spike of magic dissipates. He lifts up a hand and slowly traces his fingers down my jawline.

His hair is a cascade of night, blending in with his clothes, becoming eclipsed by the living darkness around us. The dusty pallor of his skin has grayed, as if the shroud of death has covered him. He has one foot in the Beyond. I have one foot in the world of life.

The only thing that is linking us together is that trailing touch igniting me.

“Besides, you will leave me the moment you are successful. You wouldn’t be able to stay and help.”

You could stay, the voice in my mind is now screaming. Stay with him!

Is this what I really want? Or am I swept up in the moment? Perhaps he has truly transported me to yet another new world with a mere carriage ride; he’s taken me to a place where my guard is down and I can pretend this will all work out. Somewhere I can ignore that I am allowing my heart to be set up to be broken.

Or do I actually feel nothing for him? Is all of this yearning and gnawing desire somehow the magic of the Human Queen trying to ensure its own preservation by driving me to stay with him?

I press my eyes closed and take a quivering breath. I don’t know the answers. But I want to. I need to. If I stay in Midscape, it must be my choice. I must finally make a choice, of my own volition, free of the influences of any man, with where I stand. I have to take my own advice and choose what I want for myself, not what others want for me. And it can never be my choice if I don’t succeed in breaking the cycle. What I really want might not even matter if I fail.

“I’m here now,” I whisper, finally opening my eyes to look up at the face of my antithesis. “Kill the thoughts of tomorrow. Let’s live for today.”

I don’t entirely know what I’m saying. But I know what I want in this moment—him. Eldas’s eyes widen a fraction and that’s how I know he hears.

I tilt my head up slightly. His hand still hovers on my skin. His knuckles hook my chin.

“Kiss me again,” I demand breathlessly. “Kiss me like you did that night in the castle. Let’s give in to this waking dream, Eldas.”

“No,” he murmurs. Everything in me shudders at his denial. But then he pulls me toward him, snaring me with the lightest touch imaginable. “I will not kiss you like I did then.” My breath hitches. Through the fan of my lashes I watch him lean forward. “I will kiss you better.”

His other arm fabricates from the darkness, suddenly around my midsection. Eldas envelops me as he pulls my body to his for the first time. His lean form is long and firm against me. My hands, awkward and inexperienced, land on his hips, quivering like skittish birds about to take flight.

Everything aches in that moment. The second his breath is on my face is the longest second of my life. I was right when I realized all those months ago that wanting to kiss someone makes all the difference.

And I have never wanted to kiss someone more than Eldas. This is not drunken desire. This is not loneliness or unattended needs.

I want him to kiss me. Now. Here. Forever.

He holds my eyes until the last moment. His lips meet mine and I burn.

I let out a whimper. He pulls me closer, heeding my unspoken command, trying to smother the blazing agony in me with his cool body. His tongue runs along my lips, seeking entry, and I grant it. Eldas deepens the kiss with cruel laziness.

More, my body demands with a need that makes me blush. I want his hands to move. I want those long fingers to brush down the curve of my neck, my breast, my hip. I want to feel things I’ve only known in concept. I want him to teach and guide me down all these carnal paths I’ve yet to walk.

But, to my supreme displeasure, he pulls away. His lips have a wet shine in the darkness and they curl into an unreadable smile. Color has flooded his face, giving it a natural hue once more.

“Luella,” he whispers, husky and deep. “You’re glowing.”

I realize it’s true. A barely perceptible glow covers my skin and dances with the darkness. Our powers radiate together, mingling, wrapping around each other in a dance of opposites.

“Then,” I reply with a sultry tone I wasn’t aware I could make, “I think you should keep kissing me. So that we may properly investigate this strange phenomena.”

His smile turns into a smug smirk and Eldas leans forward once more with hooded eyes. “My queen, ever the researcher.”

My queen. The words make me weak in the knees. They no longer fill me with fear. My queen. Those two words are almost as sweet as losing myself in the taste of his mouth.

“My king,” I murmur in reply. “Eldas, my king.” I am his, and he is mine.

Eldas holds me to him with a crushing grip the moment I say his name. He presses forward and I expect us to fall to the mossy ground below. But the shadows rise around us, and we slip between worlds.





Chapter 31





My back settles into the quilted blanket that I loosely threw over my bed this morning. The mattress sighs around me, accepting my weight and Eldas’s. My arms wrap around his back, pulling him closer. I bend a knee and press my hips upward against his.